Thanatos

Chapter Ten

After they left the Luthor estate, Clark started driving to the high school where he and his friends attended without thinking to discuss his decision to do so and when the woman sitting in his father's pickup realized where they were going, she spoke up asking, "Um… where are we going? Your preppy high school is closed."

Clark looked at her coolly, then responded, "I know that, but right now we need to try to figure out what Thanatos is."

"Who or what the heck is Thanatos?" Lois asked in confusion as she stared at her new friend as he parked, then got out and started walking toward one of the side doors, the reporter following close behind. "And where the heck are you going now? Do you happen to have a key?"

"I know about a door that the lock is… well it's a bit loose," Clark replied as he used his strength to break in, though carefully enough so that the reporter standing behind him wouldn't be able to see him break it with his bare hands. "I know a trick to get in. And I forgot you weren't actually in the room then when my dad mentioned Thanatos, much like I wish I knew you were in the room back when I explained to my mom about his attack."

Seeing his look of disdain as he looked back at her, she quickly answered, "I'm sorry, okay? What is Thanatos now?"

He responded, "I don't know. That's why we're here, to do research."

"Okay, but you do realize that we're going to get busted for being here after hours, right?" Lois asked as she sat down beside him as Clark took a seat in front of his friend's computer to begin looking for anything on the name.

"Chloe and I come here all the time to do research," he replied as he began to type.

Lois said again, "Yes, but Chloe was the star reporter here and has the permission to be here after hours; you don't."

Clark threw his hands up in frustration, then continued to type as he stared at the screen coldly and asked angrily, "You just can't help yourself, can you? Enough with the contempt and all your questions about my choices here tonight. Look, when she hurt my father, he saw this name or word inside his mind when she searched through his. Finding out what it means may be the key to figuring out what Tom's wife really wants more than just killing her husband. I don't want to risk her coming back to hurt my dad… again."

"We're going to figure this out, Clark," Lois answered gently as she reached over and placed her hands on top of his to stop him from typing momentarily in hope of trying to calm him, or offer him some kind of reassurance. "I can only imagine how worried you are about your father, after he was in a coma for three months…"

"There's more to it than that," Clark responded worryingly. "You haven't been staying with us long. You have no idea of all the things he's been through. He's having nightmares, he's unable to sleep, and there's more and I don't know how to help him."

Lois smiled as she pushed Clark over and took over for him at her cousin's computer, then replied, "You're helping him now by finding out about Thanatos, who just happens to be a person, or at least a mythical being, which seems very strange that this would be what this woman was thinking about when she attacked Mr. Kent."

Clark looked at the screen as he read, "It says that Thanatos is an ancient Greek personification of Death, or the death instinct, especially when expressed in violent aggression. I guess that explains why Tom's wife is so quick to kill and attack anyone who she sees standing in her way of getting her revenge."

"The question is, now that she has it, what's next for her?" Lois asked more rhetorically, not expecting Clark to actually answer as she knew he didn't know any more than she did.

"What are you two doing in here?" one of the sheriff's deputies asked as he suddenly walked into the room, startling the two intruders as they quickly stopped what they were doing and turn around to face the man before them. "A call from another student here came in telling our department that she saw two kids breaking in here tonight and so the sheriff sent me to take a look.

Lois looked at Clark worryingly, then back at the law enforcement officer and answered, "Deputy, I uh… we both… Look, we've come here, after hours because there's trouble in this town. We're only simply trying to gather information so that we can try to get ahead of the situation, that's all."

The deputy motioned for them to walk out ahead of him as he responded, "If that's true, you can speak about all this with Sheriff Adams. Let's go, now."

At the police station…

"Now, I can see why Miss. Lane here would do something like this, seeing as she's new here to Smallville and that she's a reporter, but you Mr. Kent?" Nancy spoke up as she paced back and forth in front of the two teenagers sitting down before her. "Actually, I'm not sure why I'm really all that surprised. You do seem to be in the wrong places at the wrong times quite often. My deputy told me what you told him. You were also at Lex Luthor's earlier tonight. Please, do explain yourselves. What is your interest in this case?"

"We believe that Tom and his wife are a lot more than what they appear to be," Clark replied somberly. "When my father picked him up after the car accident, he immediately felt something was wrong, but brought this stranger home anyway because he needed help. The next day, Tom's wife comes and attacks my father to get him to tell her where her husband is, which he didn't know."

Starting to understand, Nancy took a seat in front of them as she stated, "My God, is Jonathan alright?"

Clark nodded and answered, "He's okay. I interrupted her before she could harm him more, but she disappeared while I was trying to take care of him. All of a sudden, her husband suddenly dies of a heart attack only a few hours later. Something isn't right here and we both believe that this is one of the kinds of cases that are difficult to explain."

"I see," the woman responded, seeming to understand that he was speaking of the kinds of unexplained cases of hers that involves those with the strange abilities, whom she has been forced to ship off to Belle Reve Sanitarium. "You believe that this woman has superhuman abilities of some kind due to whatever the hell she's been exposed to after that accident and that it's possible that Tom Callas' heart attack might not be a simple heart attack. We have reason to believe that there's been foul play between them, but you seem to know more than we do. What were you researching at the school tonight?"

"Only anything that might help us to help you to discover the truth before this woman hurts anyone else," Lois replied honestly. "More trouble is coming and Mrs. Callas, is smack dab in the middle of it."

Sheriff Adams nodded as she answered, "Well, it turns out that you're not wrong, Miss. Lane. The truth is, more people have already been hurt. At least four other people have been found dead ever since Mr. Callas and his wife came into town, their cause of deaths still unknown, but it's definitely strange. Listen to me, I am going to let the two of you go, but from here on out, I want you both to stay out of all this before you get yourselves hurt too. And if I find either if you interfering in our investigation again, I won't decide to drop the charges against you right now for breaking and entering. Have I made myself clear?"

Clark nodded and said assuredly, "Yes, of course. Thank you, Sheriff. And be careful. I can promise you that she won't allow herself to be taken in and who knows what it's going to take to put her down."